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Decoding the UK Election – “Political PR has undermined public trust in politicians and is the single biggest threat to our democratic health”

In the debate our team, Nisha, Jon and myself argued that Political PR was undermining the public trust. From the various unanswered questions our team threw up, the main gist of our argument was the unethical manner politicians were using PR – to spin, hide and control. In particular, I looked at the type of media coverage gained from these stunts. However Menglu from the opposing team, rightly pointed out that it’s not just politicians who use political PR, and in fact, many lobby and NGO organisations use it to divert attention to their cause.

38 degrees, is an online lobbying group empowering the general public and activists to bring about change in the political arena. Campaigns Director, Hannah Lownsborough kindly paid us a visit a few weeks ago and explained how crucial online engagement was to 38 degrees. Currently, 38 degrees has over 12 campaigns running at the same time. The power of change is given to members who have joined, therefore the manageability of them is adequate. But. When the words ‘Politics’ and ‘PR’ unite, its unsurprising that all hell breaks loose in people’s heads. I can imagine the opposing team, Aneta, Menglu and Natasha, had their work cut out trying to convince everyone that political pr does not undermine the public.

The British People have a longstanding history of standing up for what they believe, a few examples include: The Miners Strike in 1984, The Iraq War march and Poll Tax Riots – which occurred 20 years ago today (31st March 1990). So much so that the political spin recently – the past 5 years, has mainly been to tickle constituents. Why? In my opinion it’s to cover up they’re stupidness with humour. The British also have a great way of finding humour in the most dreadful circumstances… Let’s take the current UK elections for example… See pictures below: